Guests staying at hospitality establishments are provided a number of services. When a guest arrives at an establishment, the guest is typically required to check-in at a front desk in order to receive an access key, such as a magnetic card, for accessing a room. The guest may also need to obtain one or more additional access keys for accessing various amenities around the establishment such as, for example, a fitness center, a spa, an elevator, or a parking structure. While a guest that is serviced immediately upon his arrival may gain access to his room and other amenities in a relatively short period of time, guests that arrive during peak check-in times may encounter significant delays and congestion. When guests receive multiple access keys, such as for their room and an onsite amenity, it may also be difficult for guests to keep track of the keys and distinguish between them. Access keys such as magnetic cards may also lose their data when placed near a mobile device such as a cell phone.
Moreover, different hospitality establishments may use different access keys. This may be the case even when the establishments are part of a single business chain. Different access keys may be required to access the rooms and amenities at the different establishments because the establishments work with different vendors. The vendors may program their locks and other devices to only respond to access cards encoded with their proprietary data structures. As such, guests travelling between the different establishments need to obtain a separate set of access keys for each establishment. This not only adds to the inconvenience of guests, but also increases the operational costs of the establishments.
When guests leave an establishment, they sometimes take the access keys with them. Guests may also lose their access keys. Over time, the cost of replacing these access keys may be substantial. In order to avoid these costs, some establishments may charge guests for the loss of their key cards. Other establishments may employ low-cost key cards that are easily replaced if lost. Both of these methods, however, have drawbacks. Requiring guests to pay for lost key cards may decrease guest satisfaction. And employing low-cost key cards that break easily may cause inconvenience to guests and staff.
Therefore, there is a need for an access control device which can work with multiple vendors and be permanently associated with a particular guest.